Obama urges Abbas to accept guidelines for peace talks

Mar. 17, 2014
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President Obama / Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - President Obama urged Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on Monday to accept guidelines for new talks with Israel ahead of a key deadline, while acknowledging the difficulties of reaching a deal.

"It's very hard -- it's very challenging," Obama said before an Oval Office meeting with Abbas, citing long-standing details that have blocked peace efforts for decades.

"We're going to have to take some tough political decisions and risks if we're able to move it forward," Obama said.

The United States has set an end-of-April deadline to set a "framework" for peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Obama has told Abbas that direct talks with Israel are the surest way to a new and independent Palestinian state.

In his remarks, Abbas urged economic and political support to a new Palestinian state "so it can stand on its own feet."

Citing the general unrest throughout the Middle East, Abbas told Obama, "We don't have any time to waste. Time is not on our side."

The Abbas visit to the White House came two weeks after Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The framework being pushed by the Obama administration is designed to set up talks on issues that have divided the sides for decades, including the specific borders between Israel and a Palestinian state, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of the holy city of Jerusalem.

In the past, Israelis and Palestinians have accused each other of failing to do what is necessary to achieve peace.

"This is obviously an elusive goal, and there's a reason why it's taken decades for us to even get to the point where we are now," Obama said. "But we remain convinced that there is an opportunity."

Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator, said it's going to be very difficult for the parties to reach any kind of meaningful framework for future peace talks.

"The gaps are too large, the suspicions and mistrust too deep," said Miller, vice president for new initiatives at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

The Middle East is only one item on the Obama administration's foreign policy plate.The Obama-Abbas meeting took place just hours after the U.S. administration announced sanctions against certain Russian officials over military activity in the Crimea region of Ukraine.

Said Abbas to Obama: "I'm aware that you have several international concerns in various places around the world."